Most sushi fish isn't fresh - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/torodex/the-sushi-you-eat-isnt-fresh-f3478c99eb2 <comment><USER2> Flash-freezing is an entirely different beast than tossing something in your freezer. I wish we'd just embrace it culturally - the results are often _much_ better than "fresh", and are far safer, longer-lasting, and more consistent.

<comment><USER3> I catch my own fish (other than sushi/sashimi I haven't bought fish in years) and 100% agree with you. You can taste the difference between fresh and frozen in a home freezer, but I think you wouldn't notice with flash freezing in a blind test.

And a lot of fish (kingfish and the rest of the seriola family for one example) are _better_ after a few days anyway, similar to resting beef.

<comment><USER4> If you're freezing your fish at home, put it in water. I clean them and put them in ziplock bags with just enough water to cover them.

I don't have a good word for this, so I will say that it removes the freezer taste.

<comment><USER3> Thanks! Will definitely try this. I invested in a vacuum sealer which works OK but is a bit of a pain.

My approach lately is to give away what I can't eat immediately.

<comment><USER5> Try a few methods in this link[1]. I've had great success with fresh fish using the water glaze. Lemon gelatin is supposedly the best method but I haven't tried it myself.

Go Dawgs![1][http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/freeze/fish.html](http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/freeze/fish.html)

<comment><USER2> Interesting - thanks for the link! I'll have to try these some time.

I do wonder how much of this is just preventing condensation / freezer burn though. A moderate ice layer will probably be enough to stop auto-defrosting freezers from destroying food so quickly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Related...

Ever go on vacation someplace famous for its seafood? Well, ask what seafood on the menu is from the region. You may be very surprised.

The trick to getting a truthful answer is to come across like you're just enthusiastic to have an authentic local dish. Then the manager or server is more likely to empathize and steer you towards what, if anything, is actually local. I've found that asking what is 'from the region' elicits better responses than asking what is 'local'.

I've also learned that when someone is admitting, by omission, that a lot of the fish and crustaceans on the menu are not local, they do not really want to explain where it's from. Usually its from all over the world and to know for sure they'd have to go look at a box in the alley.

<comment> et-al Whenever I've visited to remote coastal towns, I've always been skeptical of freshness. Contemporary American food distribution is pretty much hub and spoke.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> We're close with Michelin-star sushi chef and he's never tried to hide the fact that all of their fish has been frozen at some point. He finds it odd that diners care about it so much, but he's also of the opinion that all fish tastes better after it's been dead for at least a day. Certain fish even tastes best after a few days frozen.

<comment><USER8> There's a Parts Unknown episode with Anthony Bourdain where he highlights this, basically saying that if he ever hears anyone say "That sushi was so good, it was so fresh" he knows that don't know what they are talking about.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0hH_XR433A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0hH_XR433A)

<comment><USER9> I don't know about typical sushi fish, but I've eaten a lot of cod that was caught, boiled, and put on the dinner table all within about forty minutes.

It falls apart on the plate, but it's also one of the best-tasting types of fish dinner I've ever had.

Once it's an hour old it's too late, though, so I don't expect to ever see such fish commercially.

<comment><USER10> Yup. At least several kinds of fish are really good fresh. There is this Cantonese thing with live fish that are killed and immediately cooked... usually steamed but also pan fried. Delicious.

<comment><USER11> There's at least one restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown that sells _live_ drunken shrimp. Yes, they're still moving, if only sporadically. It's a fun dish, but uncooked shrimp are pretty tasteless, and the rice wine doesn't help much.

<comment><USER12> Which place is this? I kind of want to try now.

<comment><USER11> Great Eastern on Jackson St. I don't know if you can order straight off the menu or if you need to clarify you want the live dish.

The first time we ordered it the shrimp weren't moving for several minutes, so we felt deflated and resigned to eating unexciting raw shrimp. Someone picked one up to eat it and let out a shriek when it jumped.

<comment><USER12> Thanks will give it a try!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I highly recommend the book "The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy" by Sasha Issenber:

[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V5076G/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V5076G/)

Its a fascinating read, the author spent 2 years traveling around the world from fishing boats, to wholesalers, to sushi restaurants following the supply chain.

<comment><USER14> Thanks for the tip, I'll check this one out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> This was news to me, but in the other direction: the claim is that 50-60 percent of fish served as sushi has been frozen at some point, implying that 40-50 has _never_ been frozen.

Given that most of the non-tuna species need to be frozen and the tuna supply chain consists almost entirely of frozen fish outside of some high end restaurants in big cities (and perhaps some fishing towns that make a up vanishingly small portion of sushi consumption) - where is all this fresh fish coming from?

On top of that, salmon and varieties of tuna seem to make up the large majority of fish used in sushi. Yes, other options exist, especially at high- end places, but go into your run-of-the-mill sushi joint pretty much anywhere and those two dominate (not counting the "fake crab" that seems to make up half of maki by weight these days - that's certainly frozen also). As above, tuna is generally frozen, and salmon largely has to be, so where is all this fresh fish at?

<comment><USER16> Just because it hasn't been frozen doesn't mean that it is fresh either. Consider the number of smoked fish options (such as smoked salmon) -- the fish can be shipped refrigerated after smoking, and can last quite a while.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Enjoy your sushi while you can because at current fishing rates it will be gone in our lifetimes, fresh or frozen.

[http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/sushi-obsession- is...](http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/sushi-obsession-is- destroying-our-oceans/)

<comment><USER18> Surely that only means the price will rise to become an exotic delicacy, rather than "gone"?

<comment><USER19> We've eaten things to extinction before, so no, don't assume anything.

[https://www.britannica.com/list/6-animals-we-ate-into- extinc...](https://www.britannica.com/list/6-animals-we-ate-into-extinction)

<comment><USER20> I'm still hesitant to agree that we caused the mammoth extinction. There just weren't enough people at the time to do it with the technology we had, especially in places that lack enough cliffs.

<comment><USER21> We've had spears for quite a while now.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAvEmzjL_lA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAvEmzjL_lA)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I asked a sushi chef about using local Pacific mackerel since I liked his saba. He said that his mackerel came from Norway and that he wouldn't use Pacific mackerel because of mercury levels.

I've eaten a ton of saba. He made great saba. But I can't eat it in most sushi restaurants because it isn't fresh. Now this article talks about the fish being fresh and that is one thing. Another is for something like saba which takes about 24 hours of preparation. Salting + marinating, there is differentiation in these. But when it's done, it's meant to be eaten. And if a restaurant doesn't get enough orders, it get put back in the fridge.

And that tastes like old stale fish. I suppose I should ask when they make it and come by that day.

BTW, my sushi chef closed his restaurant on University Ave and now caters mostly to startups. My ex-gf was also a chef and she told me that it's hard to make a living running a restaurant. It's much easier in catering since you know exactly how much to prepare on a day.

[https://www.edokoberkeley.com/](https://www.edokoberkeley.com/)

<comment><USER23> Good saba is hard to come by in the states. It's the one item I make sure to order at every sushi place I go to in Japan, because it's so hard to get a good one back home.

<comment><USER24> where is your favorite in the bay area?

<comment><USER23> Not really happy with any of them for various reasons so I'll cop out and say Shunji in LA. X_X

That being said I think plenty of places in SF offer high quality nigiri, and a few places in South bay are decent places for casual stops. None really entice me to frequent them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I always found the cognitive dissonance interesting when people claim the best sushi is never frozen, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that even at places like Tsukiji Fish market, all the fish that is being offloaded from the boats is all obviously frozen.

<comment><USER26> In many places the 'best sushi' is not even legal. For example, EU regulations state that fish to be consumed raw must have been deep frozen (-20 C or lower) for at least 24 hours prior to consumption, to kill any potential parasites.

This also means you can never eat 'fresh sushi'.

<comment><USER27> After reading this story, I would never want any raw sushi:

[http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-man- gets-...](http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-man-gets-first- known-canadian-case-of-worms-from-grocery-store-raw-salmon)

<comment><USER28> Or any of these: 1\. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8_sF7kAnqY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8_sF7kAnqY) costco 2\. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM4RNIAnv5s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM4RNIAnv5s) costco (in store) 3\. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL9CVDEkDt0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL9CVDEkDt0) 4\. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yfJ88R2lI4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yfJ88R2lI4) Flash-freezing is utterly essential, especially with present sea conditions; however, I don't eat any fish raw anymore, frozen nor fresh.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> _" Superfreezing is a relatively new technology that was developed in the 1990's that drops the core temperature of a 500 pound tuna to minus 70 degrees below zero."_

Found this part interesting. I worked for a short while in fisheries in the mid to late 90s, and graded fish for Sushi. There/then fish was iced, not frozen, as soon as captured to slow their metabolism, reduce any after-effects of stress, a cut is made so they also bleed, and die faster and as peacefully as possible. They are kept long enough to allow for rigor mortis (I guess what this article refers to aging), so when it ends it results in soft, melts-in- your-mouth meat. But no, not frozen, not for the "No. 1" destined for best clients. Lesser (cheaper) restaurants yes, frozen, older, lower quality fish.

This article refers to the US, and yes most of it is far, far away from the coast, and only way is to freeze it to distribute it such long distances. Unless flown in, obviously making the product much more expensive. So sure, as title says "Most sushi fish isn't fresh". In the same way, most sushi isn't the best sushi. And in many cases it doesn't really matter, if you want a quick and still yummy meal.

For tuna you can readily tell, even if you haven't trained your sense of smell, by the color. Most tuna here in the US you can see it a matte pink, instead of deep, alive, blood-like red, and you know right away it's been frozen.

Anyway, it seems to me the article gives the idea that freshness doesn't matter at all for sushi. I disagree.

<comment><USER30> _Most tuna here in the US you can see it a matte pink, instead of deep, alive, blood-like red, and you know right away it 's been frozen._

I thought it was red because it's treated with carbon monoxide? [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/dining/tunas-red-glare- it-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/dining/tunas-red-glare-it-could-be- carbon-monoxide.html)

<comment><USER31> Some tuna actually is red, though. For example, yellow fin tuna. Caught one last month and when I got home my brother and I made sashimi... Meaning that we cut it into slices and ate it. It was so, so good. I still like it after it's been frozen, but it's no longer good for sashimi.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> _" When butchered in this matter, the fish doesn't know that it's dead."_

Otherwise it would know it's dead?

<comment><USER33> Your reaction was the same as mine initially, until I realized they meant that the fish's body doesn't respond as though it normally would once it's dead.

<comment><USER34> Yeah, I think it's related to something like this: [http://mashable.com/2017/07/07/sliced-tuna-fish- flailing/#xe...](http://mashable.com/2017/07/07/sliced-tuna-fish- flailing/#xeQh12.O1Pq8)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Interesting related fact that salmon sushi is a recent invention by norwegians and is not served in traditional restaurants in Japan - [http://www.npr.org/2015/09/18/441530790/how-the-desperate- no...](http://www.npr.org/2015/09/18/441530790/how-the-desperate-norwegian- salmon-industry-created-a-sushi-staple)

</comment><comment><USER36> I was in Kauai about 10 years back and a friend of ours who hunts goats traded with a friend for some fresh of the boat tuna. We tried a bit of that tuna the first day, maybe 8 hours after it was caught, sashimi style. It was terrible, just as our friend told us it'd be. It was super chewy and tough. Next night the stuff was great, and two nights later it was FANTASTIC!

</comment><comment><USER37> I can confirm that it tastes best when you wait. I occasionally go Ahi fishing off the shore of Kauai with friends, and they usually ice it right away and wait a couple of days before cutting it for sashimi.

</comment><comment><USER38> If it tastes good and doesn't make you sick, who cares?

<comment><USER39> That was my reaction. But it's actually just a poorly chosen title. In fact the article basically says that freshness is actually not important in sushi

<comment><USER40> _" Maguro and toro needs at least a week of aging, sometimes up to two weeks in refrigeration. Sake (salmon) and Ohyou (halibut) requires around five days of aging. On the other hand, according to Kaz Matsune, fish like binna maguro (albacore tuna) and katsuo (bonito) taste better without aging."_

The amount you age the fish is important.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> My understanding is that all "sushi-grade" fish is previously frozen. The freezing process is apparently necessary to kill/remove parasites in certain fish breeds.

<comment><USER13> There's actually no such thing as "sushi-grade" fish.

There is no standard or regulation that designates fish as "sushi-grade." It's a popular misconception.

<comment><USER42> I always thought it was a marketing term, where a certain store is willing to say "we're confident that this can be eaten raw" and not some legal or regulatory standard of quality or freshness—that is, I thought the idea that it's a popular misconception was itself a popular misconception. Moreover, I've even heard it used to describe simply "species of fish that are commonly considered safe to eat raw".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> Another surprise: French macarons are often frozen prior to display in patisseries. A French chef told me this was a professional secret. The Bouchon cookbook says it makes them "chewier and more fun"[1].

[1] [https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/30892/freezing-b...](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/30892/freezing- bouchon-bakery-macarons-whole-cookie-or-just-the-halves)

</comment><comment><USER44> In France it's forbidden to sell fish for raw consumption that has not been frozen at some point.

</comment><comment><USER45> We used to eat shellfish at least "while it's still smiling" \- caught right off the side of the boat, force the shell open with a knife, perhaps a dab of hot sauce, then down the hatch!

It's certainly a unique experience.

</comment><comment><USER46> I wonder if this is the case with Salmon. I always find fresh wild caught salmon much better during the summer, than the flash frozen stuff. Could be due to the lower fat content in sockeye.

<comment><USER47> Salmon sushi is actually a modern invention; the result of the Norway government having too much fish in the 80s and needing someone to buy it.

[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/09/16/440951873/episo...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/09/16/440951873/episode-651-the- salmon-taboo)

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> I think there are two very different definitions of fresh causing confusion. I've seen US supermarkets keep fish on display for like a week, at which point it develops a very off "fishy" odor. I don't even think it occurs to the Japanese that anyone would do this, or they would be horrified to find out, but when Americans talk about fresh sushi they probably mostly mean sushi NOT having the nasty off flavors.

You rarely hear "that was a great burger, so fresh" because we don't have such a quality control problem with beef (as far as I know).

</comment><comment><USER49> Go vegan :D

</comment><comment><USER50> Unless you live in a coastal area and know a fisherman personally, all the fish you are eating -- whether from a fish-monger or your grocery store, has been previously frozen and thawed.

My friend was neighbors with a fisherman in Cape Cod. Now THAT was fresh fish.

<comment><USER51> Which is a good thing, if you're interested in not getting parasites!</comment></comment>


So, Chrome has removed the option to have the legacy layout already? - <AUTHOR> I am sure if others are experiencing this but chrome 71 has seemed to remove and essential feature that I really loved which was being able to maintain the legacy ui at:
chrome://flags/#top-chrome-md
as normal.
but now I think chrome is pushing everyone to have the horrible round corner layout... <comment><USER2> I cannot find a fix either, and am getting bored of having to fix Chrome UI.</comment>


Ask HN: What is the point of "hands off" managers? - <AUTHOR> I've seen adverts for extremely well paid "hands off" lead manager roles. What is the point of these kind of roles? They seem largely like a glorified technical secretary who provides occasional opinions and administers a kanban/agile board - so I can see they deserve secretarial level pay. Why one earth do companies pay top dollar for such roles? <comment><USER2> Not all management value comes from managing downward, from the manager's supervision of their direct reports. Managing upwards and outwards are critical too. For instance, setting sales and marketing expectations on when new product really will be available.</comment>


Sin of PI is not even close to 0 on iphone - <AUTHOR>

Try it out on the iphone calculator. <comment><USER2> Did you make sure you were using radians and not degrees? Seems fine for me.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Sin PI = 0.05480366514879

<comment><USER3> If I use Calculator (or indeed PCalc) in radians mode, sin(PI) = 0. In degrees mode, sin(PI) = 0.0548[etc].

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Check your units. Many calculators default to degrees for angle entries.</comment>


How Spotify Helps Their Engineers Grow - <AUTHOR> http://www.hakkalabs.co/articles/spotify-helps-engineers-grow

<comment><USER3> I saw this talk given at QCon NYC and it was awesome. I think that orgs starting to experiment with different types of recognition for engineers apart from the linear promotion path is significant, and demonstrates a true interest in creating a culture that's really about developer happiness - <USER2> not about preconceived notions of what's supposed to make a "professional" happy.</comment>


Ask HN: Would you be interested in a book about coder's block (procrastination)? - <AUTHOR> I've had the procrastination problem for some time. Recently have found solution to it. I would like to share the knowledge to many people. I'm wondering if any of you programmers would be interested? <comment><USER3> I have no way of knowing whether I'd be interested in your book since I don't know what your qualifications are (e.g., how much programming experience you have, have you studied the psychology literature related to procrastination, etc.) or how well you write.

One way to figure out if people are interested in your writing is to blog about your topic and see if your blog gets a lot of visitors and commenters. Then you can use your blog posts as the basis for a book. For example, Michael Lopp's books grew out of his blog - <USER2> [http://randsinrepose.com/books](http://randsinrepose.com/books).</comment>


Lottie Dexter should quit – and take the Year of Code board with her - <AUTHOR> http://adrianshort.org/2014/02/09/lottie-dexter-quit-year-of-code/

<comment><USER2> I'm amazed at the pace they think they can get teachers up to speed with coding. Learning to code in a few months while working full time, and knowing it well enough to teach others? That doesn't seem like enough time to prepare the teachers.

<comment><USER3> she said you can learn to teach in a few minutes :D

<comment><USER4> I think that was just a slip up. Watch how she acts while answering.

I have leniency for things like that. I'm sure if given the chance she would have a reasonable explanation.

<comment><USER5> Why? Isn't that the worrying part? She should have the knowledge and experience to realistically explain why coding matters and how long it takes to learn it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The interview was fine. She described code as it is. Frankly, it isn't important whether she knows how to code. It isn't her job. She's an example to no one.

All that matters is that the program is properly marketed, and that the teachers are competent.

<comment><USER6> Mmm, I'm not so sure. She's a spokesperson for code education telling a journalist that it's easy to code, and she doesn't know how. If she has to speak for the program like that, she should understand its learning process.

<comment><USER7> But coding _is_ easy to learn. It is _not_ rocket science. It is merely language and syntax to learn the basics. They teach math without expecting kids to become math-gurus. How is code different?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I don't think this will do much good. I was forced to take 5 years of Spanish through school. Hardly know how to speak it now. The people who excel are usually driven by their own interest. Nothing makes something miserable like a gov't/school mandate.

<comment><USER9> Making it visible and accessible is important. Otherwise how would people find out that they really liked Spanish, US Civil War history, or programming?

<comment> vezzy-fnord It is visible and accessible. Perhaps not if your only interaction is with the smartphone singularity, but I agree with the OP that programming is largely self-guided.

Making it a compulsory school subject isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is distressing as to how well it'll actually be taught, whether good impressions will be received from it and whether or not it will be deceiving. Schools aren't known for being apt at actually fostering education (but rather routine and rote), much less being engaging.

I have a feeling this will be simply an excuse for the education system to ostensibly appear progressive and forward-thinking, but without actually providing decent resources. An exercise in flaunting that will likely have no actual effect on student impressions, especially not if typical public school teaching methods are employed.

I think that it's better to have no real understanding of coding than no understanding whatsoever.

That and I honestly think system administration is more important for most people. Learning to code without learning sysadmin work and how your environment actually functions is an unfilled gap.

<comment><USER9> There's no reason programming has to be self-guided any more than math or history. The numbers show that kids have basically no exposure to programming in school [http://techland.time.com/2012/07/16/can-we-fix-computer- scie...](http://techland.time.com/2012/07/16/can-we-fix-computer-science- education-in-america/)

<comment> vezzy-fnord Yet that hasn't really stopped the tech industry from booming whatsoever.

But like I said: the intentions may be benevolent, however the execution will likely be mediocre.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> "This gobbly goop will help them build websites.."

</comment><comment><USER11> Anyone vaguely technical would cringe at the Lottie Dexter interview, and the first and easiest reaction is to just bemoan the boneheadedness of government trying to yet another shallow initiative headed by (apparently) shallow people.

Then again, it's worth considering that the there is enough work to do to just get technical skills on the educational agenda. That requires getting attention, and it just might be that Dexter might be more relatable than a domain expert.

BTW, I think a truly ambitious initiative would be built on free software. With FOSS it's easier to explain how people who know how to code can use those skills to make changes to things that they use rather than just be consumers or specialists.

</comment><comment><USER12> The interview is screamingly funny, more so if you're British or otherwise familiar with Jeremy Paxman.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7x7GYItzS4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7x7GYItzS4)

<comment><USER13> Is the moderator really snickering about the uselessness of programming at the very end? Does he live in the 1950's?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes. Paxman—though he is great at holding politician's feet to the fire—is an Oxbridge old boy who has very little time for science and tech and is very much stuck in the old Two Cultures model of science vs. humanities.

In his mind, there are the privately educated, Oxbridge Classics/PPE (Politics, Philosophy, Economics) crowd who run the world through politics or business, then there are basically not particularly valuable "geeks" or "boffins" who do their bidding on technical matters.

He's great at interviewing Prime Ministers and holding their feet to the fire, but like a lot of journalists, he doesn't really get science and tech stuff.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'd be interested to hear from our friends over the pond how this compares to the Code.org initiative.

It seems to me there are some similarities in the 'boneheadedness' of the approach. What do people think?

Reminder: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7045202](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7045202)

</comment><comment><USER15> From reading various Twitter conversations it seems there are some egos at play here - read between the lines on some of @thayer's tweets

</comment><comment><USER16> she says "you can pick it up in a day".

</comment><comment><USER17> Ain't it program, not programme, always?

<comment><USER7> Isn't it isn't it, not ain't it?</comment></comment>


Show HN: A toolkit for creating hybrid human and AI conversational experiences - <AUTHOR> https://www.Wordhop.io <comment><AUTHOR> If your messaging strategy is banking on bots, you're gong to have a tough run at it. AI still has a long way to go. If you're scared of failing with AI, then good luck scaling with just humans. With Wordhop, you can create and manage the perfect mix of humans and AI.

We started off delivering actionable bot analytics to Slack channels last summer. As Slack's platform evolved, we realized we could act on that data without leaving Slack, so we evolved too.</comment>


Satellites glimpse ultra-powerful "black hole" whirlpools in Atlantic - <AUTHOR> http://uk.news.yahoo.com/satellites-glimpse-ultra-powerful-%E2%80%9Cblack-hole%E2%80%9D-whirlpools-in-atlantic-151036336.html <comment><USER2> Quote: "The powerful vortices of current have been described as 'maelstroms' and are 'mathematical analogues' for black holes – which is to say they do exactly the same with water that black holes do with light."

Perfect nonsense. I wish science journalists would research these claims in advance of making them.

<comment><USER3> What scared me is it seems to originate from a MIT site.

I assumed some sort of prank?

[http://www.technologyreview.com/view/518416/black-hole- analo...](http://www.technologyreview.com/view/518416/black-hole-analogue- discovered-in-south-atlantic-ocean/)

<comment><USER2> > I assumed some sort of prank?

I think it's a classic case of physics envy. Some scientists in a relatively uninteresting field want to spice up their work by associating it with cosmology -- with black holes, a topic that everyone recognizes. It's not unlike New Age spiritualists who try to associate their beliefs with quantum theories.

Comparing a maelstrom to a black hole is sort of like trying to explain spacetime curvature using a ball rolling around on a rubber sheet -- it's an example often used, but it's very misleading.</comment></comment></comment>


Tesla's version 9 software update is coming with full self-driving features - <AUTHOR> https://electrek.co/2018/06/10/tesla-version-9-software-update-fully-self-driving-features-elon-musk/amp/ <comment><USER2> More bulldust from musk..

"It doesn't necessarily mean that Tesla's vehicle will be able to drive autonomously"</comment>


Roger Ehrenberg's check list applied - <AUTHOR>

Investor Roger Ehrenberg has written a good piece of advice (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=324800) for the entrepreneurs starting a new business in current economy downtime. Being myself one of these crazy guys, I decided to take a shot at my venture and see how the check list really works.
core criteria:
1) "2-3 person teams, with a CEO who is the product visionary" : NO, that's just me 2) "A strong technology lead" : YES, that's me :) 3) "A CEO who has infectious passion and intensity, yet is humble and coachable" : MAYBE, that's me again, but Google hadn't a CEO when they started either 4) "A business model that I can understand in 30 seconds without visual aids" : YES, I guess 5) "The company has a prototype/alpha version that is currently being challenged by users and generating feedback" : YES and NO, I'm finishing the prototype, but with limited feedback 6) "An ability to generate revenues in 6-9 months" : YES 7) "A business that needs no more than $1-$2 million in financing to become a $25-$50 million (exit value) company, simply by executing the core business plan" : YES and NO, I need less 100k and hope to get around 5m 8) "A business that has an inherent call option, that could boost its base-line exit value by at least 10x" : MAYBE
added criteria:
1) "Initially sells to the enterprise for branding, credibility, awareness and early revenues" : MAYBE, the product is targeting professionals, as well as the enterprise 2) "Can get to revenues within 6 months, tops" : YES/MAYBE 3) "Is sold on the basis of ROI, e.g., helps generate revenues or reduce headcount/costs" : YES/MAYBE, the product aims to reduce the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) 4) "Integrates easily with existing platforms and/or programs" : YES 5) "Either leverages existing open source programs or can itself become partially or fully open source" : YES 6) "Has multiple revenue streams, e.g., software, maintenance, services, etc." : MAYBE, there is always an opportunity to provide consulting when selling to the enterprise
well, I suppose there is no single check list that will apply ideally for anything, so what these answers mean to me and what I have to do first to have better chances for attracting investors (angels)?
1) find co-founders and CEO
2) get more feedback 3) switch to another idea with better exit projections 4) discover additional revenue streams 5) a combination of these 6) all of the above
Any thoughts? <comment><USER2> i wouldn't change your core strategies if you believe them to be sound.

it's just that Roger might not be the angel for you is all.

stick with what you have an work on filling in the gaps or finding compelling explanations as to why you don't need the things you're missing and why they don't apply to your particular situation. you might not get Roger, but you'll be more prepared for these kinds of questions from other investors</comment>


Tor exit node operator prosecuted in Austria - <AUTHOR> https://network23.org/blackoutaustria/2014/07/01/to-whom-it-may-concern-english-version/ <comment><USER2> Is this is the "big brother" plan to eradicate anonymity services? Just argue "child porn!" and arrest everyone?

The law quoted was:

>Not only the immediate perpetator commits a criminal action, but also anyone who appoints someone to carry it out, or anyone who otherwise contributes to the completion of said criminal action.

 _Anyone_ who contributes? Wouldn't this include ISPs or perhaps even the application server technologies (HTTP, FTP) used? Or clients, browsers and picture viewers?

In any case, kudos to this guy. I can't imagine what he's going through: PTSD, having all his hardware taken away, dealing with clueless police.

<comment><USER3> While I disagree with them, there are a multitude of laws in most countries that make operating a TOR exit node a very bad idea. The concept of criminal responsibility for enabling the illegal acts of others, even when you don't know specifically what others are going to do with the tools you provide, is well established in the US and other countries.

Perfect example: Ryan Holle of Florida is serving life without parole for allowing his friends to borrow his car at a party when he was 18 years old. He went to sleep; his friends took the car and committed a robbery during which someone was killed. The prosecutor's argument to the jury during the 1 day trial? "No car, no murder".

<comment><USER4> This is why the concept of jury nullification is important. Yes, it's good to have laws that punish accessories, but that kind of thing is obviously not the intended case. No rational person would accept that outcome under normal circumstances, but jurors are essentially bullied by the legal establishment, which holds them in fairly clear disdain, and told they _must_ deliver a ruling based on certain rules without consideration to the larger import of the situation or face contempt of court. I suppose the abuse is even worse in jurisdictions and/or cases where jurors do not have a say in sentencing.

<comment><USER5> Holle knew they were going to use his car in a robbery. I imagine most juries would still punish even if they knew of nullification. The parent poster mislead you into thinking Holle was ignorant of what the car was used for.

I'd convict him considering the circumstances. He is an accomplice.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Official statement from the guy who got sentenced: [https://rdns.im/court- official-statement-part-1](https://rdns.im/court-official-statement-part-1)

<comment><USER7> Came here and to post this too. It's really a shame how the current system of law enforcement is designed to destroy completely destroy people.

I'm idling in some of the same public IRC channels as will (since way before he was raided for running a TOR node) it was/is painful to watch how this completely destroyed him.

It has really put me off, and probably many others, from _ever_ hosting a TOR node, which might what makes this even worse. If you want to help people in heavily censored (or monitored, but what would be every single one of them, as of now) countries you get punished and your life gets completely ruined.

Seriously, the guy was like 20 or so when the police raided his home because of a TOR relay. Financially and mentally ruining someone when he didn't even do anything wrong is just... It makes me _really_ angry.

<comment><USER8> Unfortunately this hasn't been the first case like that and it probably won't be the last one either. Saying they destroy peoples lives on purpose isn't fair though. Everybody setting up an exit node knows there's some chance the police will knock on your door one day or at the very least you'll end up getting a lot of letters. Projects like [https://www.torservers.net](https://www.torservers.net) exist for that very reason. I understand donating money isn't as fulfilling/fun/cool as hosting an exit node yourself but at this point everybody should be well aware of the possible consequences.

<comment><USER8> @sp332:

>> I don't get how the rest of your comment supports this statement.

It doesn't. I didn't make that statement - you did.

I said they don't destroy lives _on purpose_. Neither are they trying to stop people from running exit nodes. They don't know what an exit node is. Somebody is doing nasty things using Tor. They look at the Whois record. Your name pops up. They knock on your door. End of story (I don't like the story either).

@cookiecaper:

The last paragraph of your comment isn't true. The Tor Project itself trusts and supports these organizations (like torservers.net - I'm sure there are many others like it). All nodes under control of one organization are marked as such inside the network so Tor clients can avoid using more than one of them at a time.

This talk might help: Defcon 21 - Safety of Tor Network Look at Network Diversity, Relay Operators & Malicious Relays ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=864FxA3jmHk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=864FxA3jmHk))

\---

By the way. What's with all the downvotes? You do realise that I'm not responsible for anybody's house getting raided by the police, yes? I'm tired of blaming the police while nobody is willing to sit down with them and explain to them how Tor works. It's just not helpful.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Does this mean that Austrian ISPs can be prosecuted if their customers use their connections to transmit "content of an illegal nature"? Surely the ISP knows that some of their customers _could_ use their services for illicit purposes, meaning they're "guilty of complicity" themselves.

<comment><USER10> It means absolutely nothing. Austria does not follow the common law doctrine of _stare decisis_ , where each case is bound to follow whatever reasoning is used by a superior court. (Note that "constant jurisprudence" is completely different and is not really binding, since higher court chambers do not have stable composition and as such their reasoning may not be consistent.)

A different court is allowed to use completely contrary reasoning and interpretation of "enables or facilitates" ("ermöglicht oder erleichtert") and "intent" ("Vorsatz") in § 12 StGB. The more money you have, the more likely that is. Also keep in mind that sometimes juries composed of short-term politically-appointed local politicians ("lay judges") are used, so that also adds to the complexity.

Austria's women and landscapes are beautiful. Austria's legal system, _not so much_.

<comment><USER11> > Austria's women and landscapes are beautiful. Austria's legal system, not so > much.

I think our legal system is pretty good to be honest. (Then again, I also pretty much agree with the fact that TOR exit nodes are not compatible with Austrian law.)

<comment><USER10> Lets put it this way: If you took American judges and American lawyers and American laws and used Austria's jurisprudence, would the legal system be better or worse than America's? Without juries and without doctrine like _stare decisis_ , IMO, _way worse_.

Its just so sad to see what has happened to Austria's legal system. Austrians lost their right to a jury trial, which AFAIK happened circa 1933-1934 (this should give you a clue as to who benefited/benefits), and Austrians have absolutely no clue they even had it. I think Germany lost their right to a jury trial around 1924. That really wasn't that long ago, given that the jury trial is a Germanic custom. (I mean, its all very POV. Austro-German politicans call it "reform"; I call it "fascism".) _Stare decisis_ is more of a _sui generis_ and extra-statutory mechanism developed in England, so that facet is obviously less surprising.

<comment><USER11> > Austrians have absolutely no clue they even had it

Citation needed. From personal experience Austrians are very much in support of not having American style juries which are seen in a very bad light over here.

> Lets put it this way: If you took American judges and American lawyers and > American laws and used Austria's jurisprudence, would the legal system be > better or worse than America's?

Why would you mix things together that do not go together? Personally I would much rather have to deal with an Austrian court than an American one.

<comment><USER10> > _Citation needed._

It is hard to prove a negative or prove something has not happened. I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader.

> _American style juries which are seen in a very bad light over here_

That neither supports nor refutes my argument that Austrians have no clue about Austrian style juries.

> _Personally I would much rather have to deal with an Austrian court than an > American one._

I would much rather deal with an American court with Austrian judges.

> _Why would you mix things together that do not go together?_

Because I possess free will. And I am capable of performing thought experiments.

<comment><USER11> > That neither supports nor refutes my argument that Austrian's have no clue > about Austrian style juries.

It's very hard to refute that claim because you did not provide any sources for yours either. I would not know how to judge how Austrians see courts besides my limited exposure to the few law related classes I took and observing one of our most popular judges for a day and that obviously is personal bias.

> I would much rather deal with an American court with Austrian judges.

I can only assume Austrian courts did you something wrong or a person you know. Austrian courts see so little public exposure that you literally have to pick individual cases together by force to get a (skewed) view of the world. For the most part court cases in Austria are ridiculously boring.

<comment><USER10> Well its not the courts themselves but the law which forms them. But the differences are fast becoming only theoretical.

Now, mind you, Continental judiciaries have a superior administrative tribunal system which is a recognized part of their judiciary. The United Kingdom has even recently adopted this approach. It is only the United States AFAIK that continues to insist that some judges are not part of the judiciary--which is an obvious falacy. The judiciary adjudicates--that is its purpose. We call them variously as "administrative law judges" (ALJs), "traffic commissioners" and "magistrates", etc. America essentially has two judiciaries--one independent of the executive, the other not independent. It's retarded. Its unconstitutional.

And apparently Austria uses what are, in effect, Anglo-American juries. They are selected at random from the electorate. They decide questions of fact. I don't see the lack of separation between "trier of fact" and "trier of law" as obviously better or worse.

And, as people are pointing out, there are inroads being made for a form of _stare decisis_ such as Art. 177 EEC. So there is progress on all fronts IMO.

<comment><USER11> > And apparently Austria uses what are, in effect, Anglo-American juries. They > are selected at random from the electorate. They decide questions of fact. I > don't see the lack of separation between "trier of fact" and "trier of law" > as obviously better or worse.

There are two versions of "juries" in Austria: Geschworenengerichte and Schoeffengerichte. Either only become relevant if you have committed a crime that could get you in prison for 5 years or more. Geschworene decide of guity and not guilty and decide the punishment, Schoeffen do it with the help of a judge. Not sure how that is related to the American system where the decision is made of "proven and not proven" or am I misunderstanding you?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Running a Tor exit node, developing encryptions tools , working on government transparency and protecting journalists are all seen as dissent in the current environment.

The reason to engage in these activities is a duty to protect democracy and democratic values in an extremely adversarial environment.

It is unwise to do these things without some kind of strategy to manage the escalation of political repression. It is advisable to do participate in these things as part of the broader activist community. Nothing is riskier that being a solo democracy activist.

<comment><USER13> I think the people running exit nodes gave up on democracy a while back and for good reason.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> If the convicted will appeal, and if the appeal will arrive up to the EU Court of justice, this would be the first care in which it is debated whether TOR operators are protected by the "mere conduit" doctrine that is base on which ISPs are not held responsible. [1]

Too bad that it may take up to 10 years for this case to be appealed up to EU court of justice.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Commerce_Directive_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Commerce_Directive_%28EU%29)

<comment><USER15> And that the accused considers him already destroyed and definitely not healthy and wealthy enough anymore to appeal, see dewey's post here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> >The operator of an exit node is guilty of complicity, because he enabled others to transmit content of an illegal nature through the service.

This logic would make running an exit node illegal in all of Europe.

<comment><USER17> The quoted law is Austrian, so this doesn't apply to the whole of Europe.

But yes, even running a package delivery service is now illegal because it can be used to transport drugs or firearms and such.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> It seems, in many countries, the knowledge and the acknowledgement of technical facts is very much lacking, both in legislative authorities and in courts.

<comment><USER8> You can't expect them to keep up with everything. Important is who they turn to for guidance. The CCC does a great job advising law makers and law enforcement in Germany and the EFF tries really hard to play a similar role in the US. The Tor Project itself works directly with law enforcement as well (pretty much globally as far as I know).

<comment><USER19> A great job?? Can't expect them to do their job? Did you see the outcome of DE-Mail? There is a great presentation about it at ccc-videos.

The CCC is currently not advising but sueing the german government. It has also received 0 media attention since it was announced and i am sure it will just fall flat after being stalled for a few years. GG CCC HF Germany.

<comment><USER8> That one was disappointing for sure. I guess you can't win them all. The government not listening to them all the time doesn't mean they didn't do a great job though. Last time I voted I didn't see any fancy touch screens (to name one accomplishment).

I didn't say "can't expect them to do their job". I said you can't expect them to keep up with _everything_. Their job is to make legal decisions to the best of their abilities.

<comment><USER19> Do you work for der Spiegel? ;3

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I live in Austria, used to ran a TOR relay and this worries me deeply. I am unsure what to do.

<comment><USER21> But this is a problem only if it's an exit node, right?

<comment><USER22> It's still a legal problem as much as running an exit node is, they just can't easily figure out that you did anything because of how Tor works. You couldn't even confess to anything either if you wanted to.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I know what I am suggesting is wrong on some levels, and creates a myriad of other problems, but bear with me.

If I run a Tor exit node, can I block outgoing packets to known illegal servers/addresses?

Would some kind of update mechanism of this list (of course, the question is controlled by whom?) warrant that known illegal servers are not available, and thus show/prove my intent that no ill use was endorsed by me?

<comment><USER24> Tor has a notion of exit policy, but it's only expressed in terms of permitted and forbidden TCP port numbers. This lets you, for example, decline to deliver SMTP traffic on TCP port 25. The exit policy can't list IP subnets (contrary to my recollection; I thought it could, and maybe it once did).

A lot of government investigations of Tor users do involve the use of pretty mainstream, popular services like Gmail, accessed over Tor. Someone can access Gmail over Tor and send e-mails that provoke a government investigation.

<comment><USER25> I'm pretty sure you can still express IP subnets in exit policies. From [https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor- manual.html.en](https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-manual.html.en), heading "ExitPolicy policy,policy,…":

        Each policy is of the form "accept|reject
        ADDR[/MASK][:PORT]". If /MASK is omitted
        then this policy just applies to the host
        given. Instead of giving a host or network
        you can also use "*" to denote the universe
        (0.0.0.0/0). PORT can be a single port
        number, an interval of ports "FROM_PORT-TO_PORT",
        or "*". If PORT is omitted, that means "*".

<comment><USER24> Huh. That looks like what I remembered, but I don't actually see any policies that use that form in the cached consensus.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> It's too easy to scare people from hosting tor exit nodes right now.

I think the way forward is to incorporate some use based digital currency payments to compensate exit node operators for their risk.

Make it a business and let the market decide the insurance premium needed.

<comment><USER27> Who do you think can pay more? Dissident journalists or internet drug dealers?

<comment><USER26> Companies don't just serve those who can pay the most. They serve, absent transaction costs, all customers who can pay more than the marginal cost.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Wouldn't this make all ISPs illegal in Austria then? What is the difference that Austrian law sees between a TOR exit provider and an ISP as far as enabling criminal action? Is it only the differentiation between natural and legal persons?

</comment><comment><USER29> So, am I right in assuming that if I transfer illegal content from my laptop to my friends laptop via a cafe wireless network, they are complicit in my crimes and will also be at fault?

</comment><comment><USER30> _> it is a sensible precaution to turn off hosted services where data from third parties is transmitted (like Jabber, IRC, VPN, FTP, TOR exit nodes, TOR RELAYS!! …)_

TCP/IP as well?

</comment><comment><USER31> This is frustrating to hear. I don't know the laws in Austria, but I hope there's an appeal process and he wins it.

</comment><comment><USER32> The war is on, is staying on, indefinitely.

</comment><comment><USER33> It's like sending knife maker to jail because "he knew it could be used to kill somebody".</comment>


Pastebin, Dailymotion, GitHub Blocked After DoT Order in India - <AUTHOR> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Pastebin-Dailymotion-Github-blocked-after-DoT-order-Report/articleshow/45701713.cms

<comment><USER2> Why? I can't think of any reason that makes banning these products a rational move. Do they want code snippets from Indian developers to be hosted by an Indian firm? This is just bizarre.

Why would they ban Dailymotion, Imgur and Vimeo? Lewd Content?

</comment><comment><USER3> There is a way to get around it.

Use the OpenDNS IPs: 126.96.36.199, 220.127.116.11 for your DNS.

Look here at how to configure your computer for the new DNS: [https://support.opendns.com/forums/21618384](https://support.opendns.com/forums/21618384)

</comment><comment><USER4> [https://twitter.com/buzzindelhi/status/550225247455035392](https://twitter.com/buzzindelhi/status/550225247455035392)

</comment><comment><USER5> What must be the reason to block Github?

</comment><comment><USER6> It seems that after a government deploys mass surveillance, mass censorship comes "natural" after that, probably because they start finding out what their citizens are really doing, and they don't like it. So they want to "fix it" by controlling what they can watch or do. They just can't help themselves.

We need more decentralized surveillance and censorship-resistant systems. It seems to be the only way to stop this. "Democracies" don't seem enough to stop this at the political level these days. It's just too easy for the governments or parliaments to pass orders or laws such as these, and it's much harder to mass mobilize against each one of them.</comment>


Tell HN: Google seems to have changed ncr (no country redirect) - <AUTHOR> A useful feature of google search is ncr, no country redirect, which prevents geolocation redirection to the localized home page. Useful if you travel a lot, only want results in English if you live in a non-English speaking country, and so on.
The url used to be
https://www.google.com/ncr
Unfortunately this seems to have stopped working recently (clear cookies and caches first for anyone using this to see). After not a little search effort as it's either an unannounced change (or a bug?), you now need:
http://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=cr&gws_rd=cr
Hope this helps anyone relying on ncr. <comment><USER2> It used to be like this: Visit _[https://www.google.com/ncr](https://www.google.com/ncr) _ once, and on further requests, _[https://www.google.com/](https://www.google.com/) _ or _[https://www.google.com/?hl=en](https://www.google.com/?hl=en) _ wouldn't redirect to _google.de_ any more. Unfortunately, visiting _[https://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=cr&gws_rd=cr](https://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=cr&gws_rd=cr) _ doesn't appear to have this effect. Still a good workaround, so thanks for sharing!

I wonder if this might have anything to do with that EU _right to be forgotten_ thing. The EU would like Google to remove search results from _google.com_ , which is obviously very undesirable for Google, so maybe they try to appease the EU by making _google.com_ harder to access for Europeans? Maybe the _Use Google.com_ link will be removed soon?

</comment><comment><USER3> For me it works with just this:

[http://www.google.com/?gws_rd=cr](http://www.google.com/?gws_rd=cr)

In Firefox you can assign a keyword to a bookmark. So when you bookmark this and assign keyword "g" then you can visit google.com by simply typing "g". Very convinient.

</comment><comment><USER4> I use Google Search rarely but [https://www.google.com/ncr](https://www.google.com/ncr) is still in my muscle memory. Nowadays I just ddg.gg and in the rare case I'm not satisfied with the results I add g! in the search bar. The g! seems to give me the same results as [https://www.google.com/ncr](https://www.google.com/ncr). (I like to consider this a feature and not a bug.)

To give you some perspective: I live in Germany but prefer to read programming or scientific topics in English. My English is not so good but the amount and quality of English content counterbalances this by large. When using Google from Germany (google.de or google.com, doesn't matter what) looking for English search terms gives me subpar search results.

There is another reason for avoiding local Google search (google .com or google.de without ncr). From about October to mid December whenever I'm was not logged into Google I could only search when I OKed a popup to accept Google's terms. There was only an OK button so I could only search if I explicitly accepted their terms or logged in (I did neither). ncr avoided this problem. They stopped doing this but still nag with a big banner to accept their terms.

Just to be clear: I'm not complaining. I just think that most HN readers are not aware of this and some might prossible be interested to know how using Google another country feels like.

The only use case I have for Google search is localized search. For example: Yesterday I wanted to look up the ensemble of a local theater. There is nothing that can beat Google in this regard.

<comment><USER5> Note that I have found that if you log into a Google account to do all your searches for a given topic, you actually get better results, e.g. searching for ACL, getting results related IT vs. knees.

<comment><USER6> Of course. Google will profile you and have a search for "make" return results about the software rather than the verb. The only downside is that you have to let Google profile you which is a pretty large demand if you ask me. I would rather use a better keyword.

<comment><USER5> I only login in Google for searches when searching IT and comp sci type questions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I've always used [https://encrypted.google.com/](https://encrypted.google.com/), which works the same way (I think?) The URL is from before google even had https.

<comment><USER8> I use this domain with a special rule to disable javascript and cookies. Page loads insanely fast!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> It's too bad Google ignores the browser's language preferences, this wouldn't be needed if they weren't so broken wrt Accept-Language.

<comment><USER5> country ≠ language

For example, you can get google.ca in French or English by changing your browser Accept-Language.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Thank you so much! I was trying to use google.com/ncr the other day and it wasn't working. No wonder. Just saved this one in my bookmarks.

</comment><comment><USER11> What really gets on my nerves is that I can't configure it to use google.com when I search from the omnibox, I don't even know from where is it getting my current country, I guess it's IP geolocation.

<comment><USER12> I haven't looked at this explicitly, but I would expect that if you sign in to chrome then it will follow your account preferences for which locality to use. Does that not work?

<comment><USER13> I prefer to have everything tech-related written in English, but with Google, I constantly get some of their services translated into my local language. I have to keep translating their services back to English.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I use this url to use google.com [https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&ned=us&tab=nw&gws_rd=ssl,...](https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&ned=us&tab=nw&gws_rd=ssl,cr)

</comment><comment><USER15> they optimize for locals, while killing usability for foreigners and travellers. try using google in spain - even the results are worthless if you're not a spaniard. local search results get prominence, which is hilarious when searching tech terms.

</comment><comment><USER16> Seems like they fixed this. It's working for me

</comment><comment><USER17> Also, the prize for the stupidest behavior was won by Google: adding your country's suffix to a blogspot blog.

<comment><USER18> This is how Google managed to avoid having the entire domain made illegal in some countries, most importantly Germany, due to wantonly hosting illegal content: shard into per-country domains, ban the per-country illegal content on their domain, and shrug regarding the other domains.

The particular issue was that Germany, for historical reasons, has restrictions about what one can say about Naziism which are not compatible with American notions of free speech.

<comment><USER19> Why redirect to the domain? Why not just block by geoip?

<comment><USER20> GeoIPs aren't 100% reliable - there's a small but non-negligible chance that geolocating your IP will place you in a different country than you're actually in. When faced with the choice between accidentally censoring legitimate content that you have a right to see vs. accidentally letting you see content that is banned in your country, Google would much rather let you accidentally see the banned stuff.

<comment><USER19> But what's the benefit of adding another detection layer over the existing one? If the GeoIP is wrong, it'll still redirect me to the blocked domain. If I can change the domain and access it anyway, what's the purpose of blocking?

It doesn't make sense to me that they implemented GeoIP blocking by redirection, as it only has added downsides.

<comment><USER20> It's an escape hatch. If they block outright, then if they block outright and are wrong, a legitimate user cannot see content that they have a right to. If they use a redirect, then a user - legitimate or illegitimate - can bypass that block, but they have to explicitly take action to. Consequences are on them, then.

Remember that Google's mission is to "organize the world's information and make it uniformly accessible and useful". Their purpose is _not_ to block the content at all - if it were up to only Google, they wouldn't have _either_ a block or a redirection, you'd just be able to access the content. The country redirects are the result of a negotiation with the country, where Google says "Okay, if we did this, would it be acceptable" and the government says "No, too permissive" and then Google says "Okay, what if we did this?" and then finally the government says "Alright."

<comment><USER19> That makes sense. However, how do you get past the block? Changing the TLD to com redirects me to gr every time.

<comment><USER20> I think that's what the ncr (No Country Redirect) parameter that the article talks about does - it tells Google to not redirect to the appropriate TLD.

<comment><USER19> That was for google.com, but it turns out that it works for blogger as well! Interesting, thank you.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Cape Coral, a boomtown that shouldn't exist - <AUTHOR> http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/20/fastest-growing-city-america-florida-cape-coral-215724 <comment><USER2> I grew up in Lee County, FL, and currently live in Cape Coral while saving up to buy land and build my dream home elsewhere in the state.

The thing they don't tell you about Cape Coral is that Code Enforcement is the unofficial religion of the city. It's basically an oversized Home Owners' Association.

A lot of retired folks come down here and, with nothing better to do with their golden years, decide to annoy their neighbors with petty complaints in an attempt to raise property values. Whether or not it's a good investment, mots of the people are chronically annoying to the point of toxicity.

<comment><USER3> My father lived in an HOA community approximately once, and that community was in Florida. He gets very animated and upset whenever the topic of HOAs comes up based on his experience with them...the word "Nazis" usually comes up somewhere in his rant. I've heard similar stories from other ex-Floridians.

I've lived in both in my home states (mid-Atlantic area) and have found them to be a useful local governing group in most cases, minor annoyance in others, but nice to have when the local county can't be bothered.

Is there something particularly toxic about Florida HOAs? Is it really the retirees with nothing to do?

<comment><USER4> I think it's mostly that you have an unusually good experience (or take on it). HOAs are seriously hated by a lot of people. Google "HOA hate", and check out the results.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is a great photo:

[http://static.politico.com/ce/b4/b97e9c2c4b7bbe65a225751c7f6...](http://static.politico.com/ce/b4/b97e9c2c4b7bbe65a225751c7f61%2F2-full- heilner-cape-coral-hires-9194.jpg)

<comment><USER6> It's so good that it looks fake like a screenshot from SimCity or another simulator!

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> >"Cape Coral was brilliantly orchestrated and terribly planned," says Florida historian Gary Mormino, author of Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams. "They built an instant city on steroids—with none of the stuff you need to make a city work."

Classic.

</comment><comment><USER8> It's a small portion of the article, but the contrast of Cape Coral to Babcock Ranch was super interesting.

[https://www.babcockranch.com/](https://www.babcockranch.com/)

It actually brought to mind "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong" style of burbclave.

</comment><comment><USER9> If they want to build without restriction, I say let them fail without restriction.

<comment><USER10> Still seems a lot better than building with restriction and getting earthquakes, mud and fire in return.

At least hurricanes are predictable.

<comment><USER9> It's the predictability of hurricanes that makes the situation even more perplexing.

<comment><USER11> The same thing can be said with earthquakes and much of California. It's only a matter of time until a devastating earthquake hits, at least with hurricanes you have time to evacuate.

<comment><USER12> No, the same thing can't be said about earthquakes. People have been predicting that we'd have a huge quake in the Northern California ever since the one in '89\. But we've lived for more than a quarter century without one. We had a 68 year quiet period before that. They may be devastating when they happen, but the serious ones are rare. So rare, that we've spent the past 25 years upgrading our construction to anticipate a serious earthquake and we've yet to see that preparation tested.

Hurricanes, on the other hand, are so much more common. They happen every year and even have a season when you can expect them. It seems unfair to conflate a natural disaster that people may only experience once or twice in their lifetime to one that you can basically plan an annual vacation around.

I'd have more agreement if you talked about the kind of fires we saw in the North Bay recently. In addition to the earthquake in '89, I also remember the Oakland Hills firestorm in '91\. Forrest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem in California and we do a lot to try to prevent them happening on a small scale. So when they do happen, they happen a lot larger than they normally would. And when they happen in populated areas, a lot of people get hurt. They're much more an expected part of life here than earthquakes are.

<comment><USER13> Hurricanes don't strike the same place every time. Savannah hasn't had a devastating hurricane in nearly 40 years.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Grew up on SWFL. You can tell when you enter into cape coral because the trees disappear and you start seeing empty fields with a couple of houses on top of mounds.

I don't miss SWFL.

<comment><USER15> I have lived in SWFL and Central florida most my life and have never been to Cape Coral. Anytime you mention cape coral in Naples peoples eyes light up in fear, like its some horrific place. The news in Naples is pretty suppress and the only thing you ear bad that occurs come from Fort Myers or Cape coral.

However, I have been fighting the temptation to purchase a decent sized house on their on the water. The same house in Naples would easily go for several hundred thousands more. We have some friends that live their and they swear its not as bad as people say? One of these days I need to make it out there.

<comment><USER14> Oh yeah, my dad pays $500 a year in property taxes for a house on a creek with gulf access. Pretty cheap! But the con is, there's no tech work around. That's the reason I ended up leaving.

Plus I wanted a life change. And sticking around the kids I went to high school with wasn't going to provide that :P

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Wow, it looks like Mitch & Murray finally got in some closers.

</comment><comment><USER17> my grandmother lives there, it's nice

</comment><comment><USER18> I'm a Florida native. Many of the issues in Cape Coral are common to other cities and regions in Florida. I've been toying with the idea of suggesting that we deny political franchise to immigrant residents (e.g., retirees). We should allow voting only to those born here and those who have made a commitment to the state beyond their own lifetimes (e.g., raising children here). I'm 45. For my whole life, every issue around infrastructure is politicized between retirees on a fixed income who are not willing to pay taxes for infrastructure from which they will largely not benefit and younger people who want more infrastructure (e.g., because they have jobs to go to and would like better roads or they have children and would like better schools). The baby boomers and other retirees simply outnumber the active citizens, so such measures get voted down. These demographics are changing, but it will still be decades before matters improve.

<comment><USER19> I've never heard the idea floated of denying the right to vote to state residents. That's pretty reactionary

<comment><USER18> I don't think such a proposal would get any support. I'm not even sure it's a good idea. But I do think it is a useful gedankenexperiment. The political franchise should not be given to those with no skin in the game.

<comment><USER20> You have reinvented Jim Crow laws, one of our greatest national shames. The fact that you think this is OK is fucking horrifying.

<comment><USER18> I meant this in the same vein as Swift's "Modest Proposal" to prompt discussion. You can be less fucking horrified.

<comment><USER21> So you were just trolling. Why bother?

A Modest Proposal was humorously highlighting a real problem.

<comment><USER18> I am sincere in my attempt to humorously highlight a real problem.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Repo8.com – Easy way to share files - <AUTHOR> http://repo8.com <comment><USER2> It gives me _" Ups, something went wrong. Do you have reached the limit of 500MB/hour?"_. The (only) file was 11 MB. In the dev console it says that `/v1/api/files` responded with `429`.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ups, .... I have fixed it.</comment></comment>


Coding Horror: The Dramatic Password Reveal - <AUTHOR> http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001056.html <comment><USER2> Some of the things to be learned from this:

the security features you need to use while in a public place are different from what you need when you're at home.

password obfuscation in dialog boxes is great when random people are around. not so great when you're at home and don't realize that the number 1 is broken on your keyboard for the first 10 failed login attempts.

I like choices like "reveal my password" so that the user can show the password if desired (instead of copying and pasting from a text editor). And I like options like "keep me logged in for a ridiculous amount of time". Nothing more frustrating that being timed out from my bank after every 10 minutes of inactivity.

</comment><comment><USER3> Yes I agree: Lotus notes sucks ass. :-)

<comment><USER4> And Ray Ozzie that created it is now the guy that everyone is counting on to get Microsoft leadership on the web.

Go figure...</comment></comment>


I like the rotating new article at the top of Reddit, how about that for HN? - <AUTHOR>

The new story suggester at the top of reddit helps people to notice new stories a bit more and bring some stories that might have not been noticed to the top. Anyone else think this would be good to add to HN? <comment><USER2> As long as it can be disabled like the Reddit one I wouldn't object to it. I don't ever go to homepages anyway, I use RSS feeds

<comment><AUTHOR> Good call it would have to be optional

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Ya that wouldn't be bad. I'm a bigger fan of random news articles though. Have an area somewhere on the page where it puts up a random article from sometime in the last two months. This way you can be reminded of what was happening just a little while ago and lets articles that may have been passed over get a little bump.

</comment><comment><USER4> It's necessary on reddit because the "new" page flies by very quickly, and just a few jerks who downmod everything but their own submissions can control the content.

</comment><comment><USER5> I don't like it on reddit, as 98% of the time it is not something that would ever have had a chance to get noticed (but I guess that is the point isn't it !).

</comment><comment><USER6> I like the idea also; it gives more exposure to new submissions without having to explicitly browse the "new pages" section.

</comment><comment><USER7> If this is a problem, wouldn't it be better to turn up the gravity on the scoring algo so that fresher stories were on the front page? That plus the /active link seems like a nice combo.

I.E. making the front page fresher could dilute the amount of conversation on a piece, but that could be balanced via the active link.

<comment><AUTHOR> That is interesting... I guess I don't really feel like the front page is to stale. I do feel like interesting pieces sometimes are overlooked or fail to make the front page. This can often happen if a bunch of bigger news stories are submitted. They rise up quickly and then a smaller but interesting story just passes away unnoticed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I like the minimalist look of the current site. Adding features like this increases the visual clutter.

</comment><comment><USER9> This would be an interesting userscripts.

I particularly like scripts like <http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/30512> which make hacker news even better.</comment>


Ask HN: WebApp to transfer Photos from Google+ back to Flickr? - <AUTHOR>

http://www.flickrtoplus.com/ allows you to transfer all your photos from Flickr to Google+. Now with all the extra storage for free I would like to move everything back to Flickr. Does anyone know of a similar web services for transferring back? <comment><AUTHOR> Anyone?>></comment>


Pirate Bay Founder: I Have Given Up - <AUTHOR> http://motherboard.vice.com/read/pirate-bay-founder-peter-sunde-i-have-given-up <comment><USER2> Though I am all for an open internet, that doesn't mean that the internet should allow for the breaking of laws. Having open access to water doesn't mean you can drown another person in it if you'd like.

I disagree with the idea that an open internet is gone forever and that we will forever be under the thumb of our capitalist rulers.

Though we are currently in a troubled time of inequality, it isn't the first time the world has experienced something like this. Industrialization went through a horrible time where centralized power and capitalism took advantage of the people, but the world corrected itself (to a point). We're still on a journey to the perfect world. We may never get there, but the pendulum will continue to swing back and forth, and the internet is just one of the resources used by both sides to leverage their beliefs.

<comment><USER3> Sunde is probably coming at this from a point of complete fatigue. Assuming this is not some PR stunt from him, he sounds like he's pretty broken.

> I disagree with the idea that an open internet is gone forever and that we > will forever be under the thumb of our capitalist rulers.

I don't think latching onto Sunde's socialist rhetoric is the real message here; the greater message is that the larger Internet-using populace gladly supports the majority of the centralization he is targeting (Facebook, Airbnb, et. al.) because it reduces the cognitive load and latency between them and the _panem et circenses_ they're really consuming on the Internet.

This whole open/decentralized/wild-west cyberpunk game is unfortunately the vocal minority, and if we want the internet to change, those that feel this way should probably try to come off less like a parody of some brogrammer in (HBO) Silicon Valley or an ancap cypherpunk. (Myself included in this criticism.) Neither side is broadcasting a message that is resonating with the greater population that is not worried about the centralization of their content sources. I'm not sure what the message is, but with some empathy toward that use case, I know the age-old messages we've all been pushing might as well be directed to /dev/null for those that don't live on Hacker News, Reddit, mailing lists, et al. I'm reminded of John Oliver's rhetoric toward Snowden and his rephrasing of mass surveillance as the government taking records of their dick pics.

<comment><USER4> The previously highly-aggregated content of television/radio now seems to have a sort of burnished nostalgic glow. I mean... "Dallas"? Really?

Of course it burned out and faded away, but at least it was something. We now have meta-broadcast in the mold of "Deadwood"; some of it is striking. "Manhattan", "Vikings", "Fargo".

Only Adult Swim seems to be moving content off the Internet onto cable, and I'm not sure about that frankly. It's not like "The Heart She Holler" has an audience other than people who studied Southern Gothic in college/read Faulkner in earnest. It's brilliant but...

We are just talking to ourselves here.

All the power struggles matter now, but they won't later. It'll all be absorbed as dead matter for whatever tree grows in this compost.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm surprised he didn't touch on the US/UK/France's war on encryption.

</comment><comment><USER6> If I am not mistaken , doesn't piratebay get funding from a Far-right business man? Carl Lundström?

<comment><USER4> That is strange, since far-right usually means strong adherence to property rights. 'Course, "right" isn't all one thing.</comment></comment>


ISIS's strategy of terror - <AUTHOR> https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/10questions/565586-isiss-strategy-of-terror

<comment><USER2> relevant :

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_of_Savagery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_of_Savagery)

These people aren't "savages", their leaders are highly educated , they have a 'Nazi' like doctrine which is methodical and somehow 'rational' from an economic and political standpoint.

But as someone interested in old Egyptian mythology I wish the media stopped calling them ISIS.

<comment><USER3> >calling them ISIS

I think you can fairly reliably tell the quality of news source based on what they call this organization.

You should just ignore anyone calling them ISIS. At least listen to anyone who calls them ISIL. Anyone who still calls them IS, or the Islamic State, needs to get with the times. Finally, you can probably trust that anyone referring to them as Daesh knows what they are talking about.

[https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/09/words- matter-...](https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/09/words-matter-isis- war-use-daesh/V85GYEuasEEJgrUun0dMUP/story.html)

<comment><USER4> Come on, really? This seems like a lot you want to place trust to whomever presents some kind of posturing than anything. Discouraging others to people to even hear other sources based on the name seem like a perfect recipe for indoctrination. I'd rather read whatever I can and form my own opinion on the matter.

<comment><USER3> That was not intended as a serious comment. It was poking light fun at all the media hemming and hawing that goes into terminology like this.

I could have expressed the point more sarcastically, so that it was more clear.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Actual content that I found interesting:

ISIS has a number of old Iraqi Baath intelligence people.

ISIS is fighting the Syrian government, but also working with it against other rebel groups.

Iran is desperate for people to send to Syria as fighters. They're even arresting people on trumped-up drug charges (which gets you something like 20 to life in Iran), then offers them the option of fighting in Syria.

ISIS isn't really trying to inspire the masses to rise up and join them. They're trying to inspire the masses to fear and therefore obey them.

</comment><comment><USER6> Preface, from the article:

> _Der Spiegel investigative journalist Christoph Reuter is probably known to > the English-speaking readership for his recent story on coming into > possession of ISIS's initial planning documents. However, this story is only > part of his lengthy investigative work in Syria and Iraq, which has resulted > in many reports and a new book, published in April this year._

This article is actually an interview with Christoph Reuter about the book he wrote. I posted this short summary because I don't like not knowing what to expect before I open a link on HN. Perhaps this applies to more people than just me, so here ya go.

<comment><USER7> Ah, so this is a "submarine" article[1] about the author's new book. These days everything is a "submarine" advertisement for one thing or another, and it's nice to know what's going to be advertised before you start reading. Thanks.

[1][http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html)

<comment><USER8> But this "submarine" is fully surfaced, they mention the book in the first paragraph, give you the full title and an Amazon link to it in the 3rd, and shortly follow with a big picture of the cover.

Sure, it's a type of advertisement, but it has a lot of stand alone value, and surely this is a legitimate way to try to convince you to buy the book.

<comment><USER5> Let me re-emphasize that: _It has a lot of stand alone value._ This is a _very_ interesting and well-informed article.

All these comments so far, and none are about the content...</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What do you do to get mentally stronger? - <AUTHOR> I have watched a fantastic documentary about Shaun Whites comeback [0], where an essential part of his daily routine targets mental strength. One exercise he does is bathing in freezing water for a couple of minutes.<p>I would like to know some other exercises, maybe you want to share yours :)<p>[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFz52xVQIos <comment><USER2> \- 45 mins of daily morning meditation[0]

\- 3 hours/week of martial arts training

[0] With Each and Every Breath - [https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/EachAndEveryBre...](https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/EachAndEveryBreath_v130123.pdf)</comment>


Ask HN: Need Advice with UK's Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa - uk-visa UK has a special visa program wherein it gives out 200 visas each year to people who have shown exceptional talent, or exceptional potential, in the technology field. It's great for self-employed folks, and entrepreneurs.
I am preparing to apply for this visa.
Basically, I am stuck on two points.
1. How talented is 'exceptionally talented'?
It's hard to gauge how high the bar is set. I couldn't find much information about people who got this visa.
I am a 23-year old self-employed, self-taught developer who runs a couple of moderately-successful, profitable online ventures. I have a few hundred paying customers on my SaaS platform, and 10k+ license sales for my distributed software.
2. Need two recommendation letters from recognized experts in tech (doesn't have to be a UK-based expert)
How famous does the expert have to be? Does a $200k-revenue-founder work? or does it have to be a $100m-exit-founder?
I am flying to London next week, and was hoping to spend most of my time networking. It's a pretty long shot, but I am hoping I can get at least one recommendation letter out of it.
Does anyone on HN have experience with this visa type?
Any advice on how someone who is bad at networking can get a recommendation letter from a who's who of London's tech scene? <comment><AUTHOR> As a US citizen who finished up a UK job search a while ago, I looked at this visa a while ago and concluded:

1) It was meant for The sort of folks that earn titles like "Principal Engineer"

2) It was going to be way easier to get a Tier-2 visa sponsorship.

My advice would be to reach out to the influential people who already follow your blog, have have gone to your talks, or who use your product.</comment>


Show HN: BitJoy – Realtime Bitcoin Data - <AUTHOR> http://bitjoy.org

<comment><USER2> This is interesting. Can you go a little into the tech stack you used? I'm always interested in things like this. Did you roll your own charting solution? I see your just using standard div elements no svg or canvas...

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I built my own charting, the other solutions out there aren't polished enough for what I needed. This chart will be really easy to build functionality into while keeping high quality look and feel. I tried some different approaches but the best ended up being divs with % values and css animations. Other then that I'm using backbone, node, engine.io.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Beautiful. What's the best way to use this?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks :) The plan is to create a realtime snapshot of the Bitcoin ecosystem by building context around the data so it's easy to consume and understand. Price was the logical place to start but the plan is not to be so price focused and to include more kinds of data.</comment></comment>


The Utility Belt: How MySpace's pride is destroying it - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.business2.com/utilitybelt/2007/04/how_myspaces_pr.html <comment><USER2> One moral of the story: be _very_ careful about creating technology that relies on a technology out of your control. Or from the architecture world: Even the most amazing building can collapse if built on an unreliable foundation,</comment>


Space Toads Mayhem Dev Update: Mega Death Sun Power-Up :) - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/SpaceToadsGame/status/776930628931649540 <comment><USER2> A long blog post is usually more welcome here, specially if it discuss some technical details of the implementation of the game. (Anyway, if you write the blog post, insert the video because it's a nice complement of the technical details.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks gus_massa, I'll keep this in mind :)</comment></comment>


JQuery UI Hacked? - <AUTHOR> http://jqueryui.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> Well I should've taken a screenshot of it. The site was briefly replaced with a message from some guy about losing his job or something, and then a PGP signature. I'm wondering if it may be related to the recent Shellshocked vulnerability ([http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/09/bug-in-bash-shell- cr...](http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/09/bug-in-bash-shell-creates-big- security-hole-on-anything-with-nix-in-it/))

</comment><comment><USER2> Well if it was defaced, it's back to normal now.

</comment><comment><USER3> I don't get it. What should I be looking at?</comment>


Eventful.com a hit? - <AUTHOR>

is eventful.com a success in the US? or in any part of the world? <comment><USER2> The only way one can come to the conclusion to that question is either

1\. You agree/disagree that they are different? - I think they are different because the whole concept behind demanding an artist to come and play in your town is no doubt very sticky. I speak out of experience because my wife for all her love for Yanni is getting to see him play live in Toronto next year using eventful.

2\. The only thing which is left to find is how many 'demands' have been met this way? Maybe there are not many but I know that Eventful has one strong supporter in my wife and they'll have me too cheering for them if my fav singer comes to town.</comment>


Verizon Wireless grills exiting customers about the iPhone - <AUTHOR> http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/04/verizon-wireless-grills-exiting-customers-about-the-iphone/

<comment><USER2> I left Verizon after about 6 or 7 years a month ago because I wanted an iPhone. It's just the best phone for my needs on the market.

But if Verizon gets the iPhone next year, or the Palm Pre and the Pre offers a comparable user experience, I'll break my contract with AT&T in a heartbeat. I am really not nearly as satisfied with AT&T's network in my area and their customer support is terrible (Verizon's on the otherhand has always been good). Plus, 97% of the people I call on a daily basis are on Verizon, and thus free in network if I were to switch back.

I would guess that a lot (most?) people who switch from Verizon to AT&T do so for the iPhone. I can't really think of any other reason to switch to a company with an inferior network and icy customer service reps.

</comment><comment><USER3> I have to admit, if big red had the iPhone, I'd switch over in a second. The ecosystem they've built around the iPhone is amazing.

That said, I think the article's title is a bit misleading/linkbait-y. Asking customers about the iPhone in a survey is far from "grilling"

<comment><USER4> I think it's exaggerated slightly, but not terribly. They clearly considered it a high priority and put it in several questions. It's not as if the title was just extrapolated from an anecdotal experience.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> That's funny. I left my family plan with Verizon to go in with 4 friends on an iPhone family plan. I wonder if Apple will make a CDMA iPhone or if the only way for Verizon to get in on the action is to switch it's network or buy coverage from another GSM provider (ATT).

</comment><comment><USER6> My contract runs out in less than a fortnight; I plan on doing just that. I renewed my contract two years ago because I didn't want to buy the first generation of iPhone, but by now, I can afford one. Whenever I called to ask about how to disconnect, they certainly didn't ask me anything about the iPhone. Then again, when I make the actual call to do so, they might. We'll see.

Everything I've heard about the iPhone has been pretty good. I live in a city, so I'm not worried about coverage issues. My friends that own one love it, generally. I can't really think of a reason I'd want to stay with Verizon. The only downside will be that most of my friends are on Verizon, and 'in' calling was pretty sweet.</comment>


Animating URLs with JavaScript and Emojis - <AUTHOR> http://matthewrayfield.com/articles/animating-urls-with-javascript-and-emojis/#%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BD%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BB%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BB%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BD%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BF%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BF%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BD%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BB%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BB%F0%9F%91%B6%F0%9F%8F%BC <comment><USER2> This is neat, though these links are impossible to use except via copy and paste. And the emojiset isn't the same on every computer meaning some people would get boxes.</comment>